Reviews

Majority Teton Soundbar Review

Can a soundbar from the U.K. priced less than $100 make it in the U.S? Find out if the Majority Teton 2.1 channel soundbar is better than your TV’s speakers.

Robert Silva

Updated

February 11, 2022

Can a soundbar from the U.K. priced under $100 provide better sound for your movie viewing experience? Our review of the Majority Teton Soundbar proved to be an interesting experience.

Most consumers would agree that the loudspeakers in their 4K TVs don’t exactly deliver a sonic experience that is commensurate with the image quality on the screen. As TVs have become thinner, the amount of available real estate for loudspeakers has practically vanished. Sony has begun integrating drivers behind the panel but those televisions come with a high sticker price.

Home theater enthusiasts are not shy when it comes to expressing their dislike of soundbars, but the category has been an overwhelming success and every significant loudspeaker brand has at least one model in their lineup. Consumers have purchased millions of soundbars; the pandemic forced people to stay home and that moved a lot of product.

In the past few years, there has been a wave of high-end soundbars that for a lot of consumers, serve as the most practical way to experience home theater audio; some of them from brands like Sony, Theory Audio Design, and Sennheiser have advanced the art in a significant way.

However, there are also a lot of “cheap” soundbars available that attract a lot of shoppers looking as a way to improve TV sound at a minimal cost.

Some lower-priced soundbars, such as the Monoprice SB-300 or Roku Streambar actually do a pretty good job at improving the TV sound experience considering their low prices. However, can a less than $100 priced soundbar from the U.K. deliver the goods too?

That is what Majority hopes for with their Teton soundbar. With more soundbars arriving in the U.S. from Majority, first impressions can have a big impact on a brand trying to gain market share in an already crowded field.

Majority Teton Bluetooth Soundbar Speaker Drivers

Product Description

The Majority Teton Soundbar is 32-inches wide making it a good match for TV screen sizes up to 55-inches. You can use it with a larger screen TV, but you might find the soundstage a little narrow. The Teton can be stand/shelf or wall-mounted.

The soundbar has an internal 2.1 channel speaker configuration (no power output specifications were provided). No external subwoofer or connections for one are provided.

Connections

The rear-mounted connections provided by the Teton Soundbar include:

1 Power receptacle
1 HDMI output with ARC/eARC
1 Digital Optical audio input
1 USB port (MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, AAC+ via 32GB flash drive)

Side-mounted connection: 1 x 3.5mm Analog audio Input

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Wireless Connectivity: Bluetooth ver 5.0

Control

The Teton comes with a remote control that is divided into three sections. Starting at the top are the power and Mute buttons. Next are the bass level controls and the input selection button.

Moving down is a ring that provides the volume and the fast forward/reverse controls (for playing USB and Bluetooth content). The Play/Pause control is in the center of the ring.

Below the ring controls are Treble level controls and Bluetooth Pairing button.

Moving down from that are EQ sound setting buttons for Music, Dialog, Movie, and Flat.

Majority Teton Bluetooth Soundbar Controls Side

The Teton also has limited controls on the right side (facing your seated position) of the soundbar (Power, Source Select, Volume, Bluetooth Pairing).

The right side location of the onboard controls is interesting as most soundbars have onboard controls on the front center or center top. Many soundbars have side-mounted speakers which would provide a wider found soundstage. This would preclude placing controls on a side panel.

What’s In The Box?

When the Teton arrived at my door, the first thing I noticed was how light the box was – Did I get an empty box? Fortunately, when I opened the box, the Teton was there (along with a package of accessories), but the soundbar was extremely light at a little over 3 pounds!

Here is what the Majority Teton comes with (in addition to the soundbar) to get you started:

Remote Control (requires AAA batteries – not included)
3.5mm to 3.5mm Audio Cable
1 HDMI Cable
RCA Stereo Audio Cable (red/white)
Detachable Power Adapter
Wall mounting screws
User Guide
Digital Optical Cable

Majority Teton Bluetooth Soundbar Accessories

Set-Up

After unboxing the soundbar and accessories, the Teton is very easy to set up.

Place the soundbar in front of your TV (or just below if the TV and soundbar are wall-mounted).

Connect an HDMI cable (provided) from the soundbar’s HDMI connection to the HDMI-ARC/eARC port on your TV.

(Optional) Connect a digital optical cable from the TV to the soundbar. This is handy if your TV doesn’t have an HDMI-ARC/eARC connection option.

(Optional) Connect the RCA audio cable from the TV to the soundbar.

Plug the soundbar into power using the provided power adapter.

Put batteries in the remote, turn on the soundbar and start using.

HDMI-ARC/eARC

If you are not familiar with the HDMI-ARC/eARC connection on a TV or other device, here is a quick rundown.

HDMI-ARC and eARC transfer audio from your TV (including the audio from devices connected to your TV) to the soundbar. If using this connection you don’t need a separate digital optical or analog audio connection from the TV to the soundbar.

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ARC will pass stereo and Dolby Digital audio. eARC additionally passes Dolby Atmos. However, the Teton does not pass Dolby audio signals or offer eARC functionality.

To use HDMI-ARC:

TV has to support HDMI-CEC and ARC or eARC

HDMI-CEC and ARC have to be enabled on your TV.

The TV’s digital audio output or S/PDIF mode must be set to PCM.

Hands-On Impressions

The physical profile of the 32-inch wide and 3.8-inch high soundbar may block the bottom of some TV screens — that is what happened in my case. My suggestion is to place the soundbar in an open cabinet space below the TV or if you have a wall-mounted TV, wall-mount the soundbar just below the bottom bezel of the TV. Since the Teton is so light, it doesn’t present any weight-related wall-mounting issues.

The Teton works with any TV that has an analog stereo output, digital optical output, or HDMI-ARC/eARC connection. For me, once the HDMI connection was made, when I turned on the TV, the Teton also activated. When I turned the TV off, the Teton turned off as well.

Tip: If you connect the Teton to a TV’s ARC/eARC connection, set your TV’s audio output to PCM. Dolby Audio formats are not accessible.

Since the Teton is a budget-priced soundbar it doesn’t provide advanced sound processing features, such as Dolby Atmos, DSP-based sound modes, or even virtual surround. It is a straight 2.1 channel soundbar.

Majority Teton Bluetooth Soundbar Controls Angle

As for its 2.1 channel claim, the Teton does have a low-frequency response down to 60Hz, dropping off to inaudibility below 50Hz. However, this doesn’t match Marjority’s provided 30Hz low-frequency claim.

Unfortunately, there is no subwoofer output on the soundbar. This means you can’t add a powered subwoofer to complement the soundbar to provide more kick in the low bass frequencies. This soundbar could really use an optional add-on subwoofer feature.

On the positive side, the Teton has very good dialog and voice sound presence (despite the lack of a dedicated center channel) and although the highs are not impressive, I felt they had greater detail and extension than the bass.

The Teton does improve TV sound and is definitely loud enough for a 13×12 foot or similar size room. It also has practical features such as HDMI-ARC, Bluetooth, and USB music file playback.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t recommend it as a go-to soundbar for a main or living room TV, especially for a high-end model. With its sound quality profile, I feel it is more suited for use on a second TV, say in a bedroom or other second room; it’s definitely worth considering at its reasonable asking price.